Horizon Village Student Residence Hall

OshKosh, Wisconsin / United States of America

Horizon Village reflects the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's commitment to raising the quality of residence life and creating a more sustainable environment. This 161,000-square-foot LEED Gold building includes 350 beds for upperclassmen and women and residence life directors. It occupies a challenging sloped triangular site at the southern tip of the University, central to the residential campus.

The solution places all dwelling units in a double-loaded building block along the site's eastern edge. The building bends twice to maintain a consistent relationship with the street and to shorten what would otherwise be long corridors. The western half of the site features a recreation yard above a geothermal well field. The position of the building reveals the Reeve Memorial Student Union's arched roof and two-story curtain wall when traveling to the campus from the south.

The north-south orientation brings direct daylight into each unit for several hours a day. Each unit has a large bay window in the living space, with varying types of glass to admit optimum light and to restrict solar gain. Comfortable lounges at all levels facilitate group study and socialization, and the building's outdoor amphitheater and lawns are easily accessed from Horizon Village and Reeve Memorial Union.